New traffic signal aids students at 3 Ahwatukee schools

For years, officials of the Kyrene Elementary and Tempe Union High school districts have pressed Phoenix to put a traffic signal at 32nd Street and Liberty Lane.

Commuter traffic is heavy at the Ahwatukee Foothills intersection right at the time kids are walking to or from three public schools in the area. About 150 students from Desert Vista High, Kyrene de la Estrella Elementary and Kyrene Akimel A-al Middle schools cross the intersection a day.

So when students returned to school from spring break this year, the Phoenix Street Transportation Department's school safety team had an answer ready for them to try out - not a traditional traffic signal but a HAWK, or a High Intensity Activated CrossWalk Pedestrian Beacon system.

The $80,000 system looks a bit like the flashing red lights at railway crossings.

But unlike traffic signals, the HAWK only operates when a pedestrian pushes a button, leaving cars free to glide unrestricted through the intersection when no one is crossing the street.

Money for the signal came from bond funds designated for traffic control, not the Phoenix general fund, city officials said.

The signal works like this:

• No light is visible if the HAWK has not been activated.

• When a button is pushed, a yellow light flashes for a few seconds to warn approaching cars to slow down.

• Next, a red light flashes for about 30 seconds, indicating that cars should stop and allow pedestrians to cross the street.

• The signal then goes dark until another pedestrian comes by and pushes the button.

"We have long been wanting something at that corner," said Akimel A-al Principal Ernest Brodersen.

He said his school sends a crossing guard to the corner during the time that middle school students are walking to and from school.

But those are not the only times that people need to get across the street. Desert Vista, for instance, starts and ends at different times.

"Ultimately, I think this will be a good thing for safety for everyone at that the corner," Broderson said.

Donald Cross, the Phoenix traffic engineering technician who worked to develop the system at the Ahwatukee intersection, said this is the fourth HAWK system in Phoenix and the 65th in Arizona.

The devices were invented by Tucson traffic engineers who needed a way to get University of Arizona students safely across that city's streets without tying up traffic.

Another plus, Cross said, is that the HAWK is much less expensive than a typical $150,000 traffic signal.

Cross said that since the signal was activated on on March 22, he has received two calls from area residents who wanted to know more about how the system worked. No one has complained, he said.

Donald Cross of the Phoenix transportation department shows how the High Intensity Activated CrossWalk Pedestrian Beacon, or HAWK, works at the intersection of 32nd Street and Liberty Lane in Ahwatukee.